Leading Indicators for Safety

Safety performance related measures have been classified in two categories termed lagging and leading indicators. Lagging indicators such as injury frequency denote measures where there is a consequence to a person or property that causes injury or loss. Leading indicators measure proactive safety supportive activities like hazard reporting that work to prevent incidents from occurring. It follows that the achievement of good performance in the leading indicator category generally acts to improve lagging indicator results.

Leading indicators of health and safety performance are a high profile topic across the minerals industry currently. The recent ICMM publication on the topic outlines the benefits of leading indicators, the components of a sound leading indicator system, and provides guidance on implementing leading H&S indicators.

This survey aims to establish the industry’s current position in relation to H&S leading indicators, and to identify areas where the work of the Global Mining Standards and Guidelines Group can assist minerals companies to improve their use of leading indicators.

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1.Does your organisation use any of the following lagging indicators?

Number of injuries

Injury frequency rates

Days lost to injury or injury severity

High Potential Incidents

Potentially Fatal Outcome incidents

Damage incidents

Other (please specify)

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2.Does your organisation use any of the following leading indicators?

Near Miss reporting

Hazard reports – Substandard Conditions, housekeeping, etc.

Hazard reports – At-Risk Practices

Number of Job Observations

Field Level Risk Assessments(On-the-job hazard assessment and risk control before action)

Number of Planned Inspections

Safety Inspections/Tours completed

Safety related meetings (number or total hours)

Number of Quantitative risk assessments and evaluations

Management time in the field

Task-based hazard assessments (example: FLRAs, SMATs, etc)

Safety-related action closeout

Completion of general Safety Related Training

Qualification/Competency training of persons doing specialized tasks or using equipment

Completion of Safety Orientations

Other (please specify)

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3.Regarding the ICMM Leading Indicators document, have you:

Not seen or read it

Read it and not taken any action

Read it and not yet determined how to implement the recommendations

Read it and begun to implement the recommendations

Read it and found your existing systems to be in alignment

Other (please specify)

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4.How do you classify non-injury, potentially fatal near misses?

High Potential Incidents

Significant Potential Incidents

Potentially Fatal Outcomes

Other (please specify)

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5.Do you investigate these type of incidents to a greater level of detail than others? (see question 4 for type of incidents)

Yes

No

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6.Are your health and safety indicators (leading and lagging) common across the whole organisation, or different between operating sites or divisions?

Yes, all sites, divisions or business units use the same indicators

No, different areas use different indicators

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7.How mature is your company / mine in implementing leading safety indicators:

Don’t have any leading indicators

A couple of basic leading indicators

Actively monitoring a range of leading indicators

Management’s main focus is on leading indicators in preference to lagging

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8.Would you be interested in a ten minute phone call to further discuss leading indicators and high potential incidents in your organisation to assist us in gathering more detailed information? If so, please provide your name and email and we’ll be in touch.